Hello, I have an ivory silk tree I would like to plant closer to the lakeside. It will be at the graveside of my recently departed Newfoundland dog.
The soil is very well draining and currently supports large grown oak, birch, maple and aspen. My concern is during spring freshet…the area is under about 1-2ft of water from around the end of March to roughly the middle of April.
When spring freshet takes place here in a zone 5 area, there are no leaves on the trees yet and they don’t normally come out in full force in the middle of May.
Would the Ivory Silk still be somewhat dormant during spring freshet and able to tolerate these conditions? I’m confident the rest of the year it would flourish in this location but I’m unsure about the short term flooding and if it can survive that?
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question
Dear gardener,
Thank you for posing this very interesting question to the Toronto Master Gardeners. But first, may I please offer you my condolences for the loss of your beloved Newfoundland dog. How very sad, but what a lovely idea to plant a tree where you have buried him to commemorate your love.
I needed to look up what “freshet” means, and of course you explained it very nicely. In spring, the water of your lake rises one to two feet for at least a couple of weeks from the melting of the snow. You have well-drained, I presume, sandy soil on the lakeshore where you want to plant the tree, and you are in zone 5. Your tree will need to tolerate having very cold, wet roots for at least a couple of weeks. The good news is that there is already a large grown oak, birch, maple and aspen growing close to where you want to plant your tree.
I am also presuming that the ivory silk tree that you have pictured (I could not really see the shape of the leaves well enough to make a definitive identification) is a lilac. The Syringa reticulata ‘Ivory Silk’ lilac tree is a small tree, originally from Japan, growing to about 20-30 feet high, with the most gorgeous creamy white blossoms that arrive in late spring to early summer.
There may be some issues with transplanting your ‘Ivory Silk’ into this area of your lakeshore, but I cannot see any strong red flags. Perdue University says that it is a hardy little tree that can be planted in areas that are difficult to plant. You will find more basic information on the tree at the site of the North Carolina Extension Gardener. The small tree likes a well-drained, or at least medium-moisture soil. The Missouri Botanical Gardens says that it, “Prefers organically rich, moist, slightly acidic soils with good drainage.” Lakeside soil can be more alkaline than acidic, so it is worth your while to measure the pH of the soil. You should also add quite a lot of compost to the soil since lakeside soil can be too sandy to hold much organic matter, but only add the organic mulch after you have transplanted it.
For an excellent guide on how to plant a tree, please go to Landscape Ontario. I wish you my very best as you plant and grow this beautiful tree in honour of your beloved Newfoundland companion.
June 2, 2024